Words Full of Deed: Prophets and Prophecy in German Literature around 1800

In this dissertation, I consider the role of prophets and prophecy in German drama and dramatic discourse of the Romantic period. Against the backdrop of the upheaval wrought by the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, such discourse exhibits a conspicuous fascination with political and social crisis in general as well as a preoccupation with imagining how the crises of the present could provide an opportunity for national or civilizational renewal. One prominent manifestation of this focus is a pronounced interest in charismatic leaders of the legendary or historical past—among them prophets like Moses, Muhammad and Joan of Arc—who succeeded in uniting their respective societies around a novel vision of collective destiny. In order to better understand the appeal of such figures during this period, I examine works of drama and prose fiction that feature prophets as their protagonists and that center on scenarios of political or religious founding. Reading texts by major authors like Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Friedrich Schiller and Achim von Arnim alongside those by the lesser-known writers such as Karoline von Günderrode, August Klingemann and Joseph von Hammer, I analyze the various ways these scenarios are staged and situate them within their specific political, intellectual and literary contexts. In so doing, I show that the figure of the prophet—a figure whose authority is based not on their own wisdom, talent, or cunning, but rather on their claim to speak for a higher, superhuman power—offers authors a paradigm of political and cultural innovation that radically displaces the agency of the rational subject in favor of non-rational factors like language, performance, history, myth and the emotions. Moreover, I argue that this figure reveals an important connection between the history of drama in this period and an emergent, post-Enlightenment political discourse concerned with the origin and nature of sovereignty

Development of a Physics-Aware Dead Reckoning Mechanism for Distributed Interactive Applications

Distributed Interactive Applications (DIAs) are a class of software that allow geographically remote users to interact within a shared virtual environment. Many DIAs seek to present a rich and realistic virtual world to users, both on a visual and behavioural level. A relatively recent addition to virtual environments (both distributed and single user) to achieve the latter has been the simulation of realistic physical phenomena between objects in the environment. However, the application of physics simulation to virtual environments in DIAs currently lags that of single user environments. This is primarily due to the unavailability of entity state update mechanisms which can maintain consistency in such physics-rich environments. The difference is particularly evident in applications built on a peer-to-peer architecture, as a lack of a single authority presents additional challenges in synchronising the state of shared objects while also presenting a responsive simulation. This thesis proposes a novel state maintenance mechanism for physics-rich environments in peer-to-peer DIAs composed of two parts: a dynamic authority scheme for shared objects, and a physics-aware dead reckoning model with an adaptive error threshold. The first part is intended to place a bound on the overall inconsistency present in shared objects, while the second is implemented to minimise the instantaneous inconsistency during users’ interactions with shared objects. A testbed application is also described, which is used to validate the performance of the proposed mechanism. The state maintenance mechanism is implemented for a single type of physicsaware application, and demonstrates a marked improvement in consistency for that application. However, several flexible terms are described in its implementation, as well as their potential relevance to alternative applications. Finally, it should be noted that the physics-aware dead reckoning model does not depend on the authority scheme, and can therefore be employed with alternative authority scheme

Words Full of Deed: Prophets and Prophecy in German Literature around 1800

In this dissertation, I consider the role of prophets and prophecy in German drama and dramatic discourse of the Romantic period. Against the backdrop of the upheaval wrought by the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, such discourse exhibits a conspicuous fascination with political and social crisis in general as well as a preoccupation with imagining how the crises of the present could provide an opportunity for national or civilizational renewal. One prominent manifestation of this focus is a pronounced interest in charismatic leaders of the legendary or historical past—among them prophets like Moses, Muhammad and Joan of Arc—who succeeded in uniting their respective societies around a novel vision of collective destiny. In order to better understand the appeal of such figures during this period, I examine works of drama and prose fiction that feature prophets as their protagonists and that center on scenarios of political or religious founding. Reading texts by major authors like Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Friedrich Schiller and Achim von Arnim alongside those by the lesser-known writers such as Karoline von Günderrode, August Klingemann and Joseph von Hammer, I analyze the various ways these scenarios are staged and situate them within their specific political, intellectual and literary contexts. In so doing, I show that the figure of the prophet—a figure whose authority is based not on their own wisdom, talent, or cunning, but rather on their claim to speak for a higher, superhuman power—offers authors a paradigm of political and cultural innovation that radically displaces the agency of the rational subject in favor of non-rational factors like language, performance, history, myth and the emotions. Moreover, I argue that this figure reveals an important connection between the history of drama in this period and an emergent, post-Enlightenment political discourse concerned with the origin and nature of sovereignty

Implementing Restorative Justice under the Retributive Paradigm: A Pilot Program Case Study

This article explores the implementation of a pilot program in restorative justice in a medium-sized Midwestern city. Through an examination of meeting minutes, interviews, and the personal reflections of the authors, this article examines the implementation of a victim–offender mediation program, referred to throughout the article as the Fast Track Accountability Program (FTAP). Presented as a case study, the authors describe the key stakeholders, the process, the obstacles, as well as lessons learned along the way. Particular attention is given to the essential role of strong leadership and to the challenges faced when implementing such a program within the bureaucracy of the current, retributive, criminal justice system

Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 Early Release Science: Emission-Line Galaxies from Infrared Grism Observations

We present grism spectra of emission-line galaxies (ELGs) from 0.6-1.6 microns from the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope. These new infrared grism data augment previous optical Advanced Camera for Surveys G800L 0.6-0.95 micron grism data in GOODS-South from the PEARS program, extending the wavelength covereage well past the G800L red cutoff. The ERS grism field was observed at a depth of 2 orbits per grism, yielding spectra of hundreds of faint objects, a subset of which are presented here. ELGs are studied via the Ha, [OIII], and [OII] emission lines detected in the redshift ranges 0.2<z<1.4, 1.2<z<2.2 and 2.0<z<3.3 respectively in the G102 (0.8-1.1 microns; R~210) and G141 (1.1-1.6 microns; R~130) grisms. The higher spectral resolution afforded by the WFC3 grisms also reveals emission lines not detectable with the G800L grism (e.g., [SII] and [SIII] lines). From these relatively shallow observations, line luminosities, star-formation rates, and grism spectroscopic redshifts are determined for a total of 48 ELGs to m(AB)~25 mag. Seventeen GOODS-South galaxies that previously only had photometric redshifts now have new grism-spectroscopic redshifts, in some cases with large corrections to the photometric redshifts (Delta(z)~0.3-0.5). Additionally, one galaxy had no previously-measured redshift but now has a secure grism-spectroscopic redshift, for a total of 18 new GOODS-South spectroscopic redshifts. The faintest source in our sample has a magnitude m(AB)=26.9 mag. The ERS grism data also reflect the expected trend of lower specific star formation rates for the highest mass galaxies in the sample as a function of redshift, consistent with downsizing and discovered previously from large surveys. These results demonstrate the remarkable efficiency and capability of the WFC3 NIR grisms for measuring galaxy properties to faint magnitudes and redshifts to z>2.Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ. Updated to include referee comments. Updated sample using improved reduction contains 23 new galaxies (Table 1; Figures 2 & 3

Developmental regulation of mitochondrial apoptosis by c-Myc governs age- and tissue-specific sensitivity to cancer therapeutics

It is not understood why healthy tissues can exhibit varying levels of sensitivity to the same toxic stimuli. Using BH3 profiling, we find that mitochondria of many adult somatic tissues, including brain, heart, and kidneys, are profoundly refractory to pro-apoptotic signaling, leading to cellular resistance to cytotoxic chemotherapies and ionizing radiation. In contrast, mitochondria from these tissues in young mice and humans are primed for apoptosis, predisposing them to undergo cell death in response to genotoxic damage. While expression of the apoptotic protein machinery is nearly absent by adulthood, in young tissues its expression is driven by c-Myc, linking developmental growth to cell death. These differences may explain why pediatric cancer patients have a higher risk of developing treatment-associated toxicities

Psychological impact, support and information needs for women with an abnormal Pap smear: comparative results of a questionnaire in three European countries

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Extensive information on cervical cancer is currently available. Its effectiveness in reducing anxiety in women receiving abnormal Pap tests is not clear. We investigated current practices of communicating abnormal Pap results to evaluate women's reactions and determine the sources of information they use subsequently.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A self-administered questionnaire-based study was performed in 1475 women in France, Spain and Portugal who had received an abnormal Pap smear result in the 12 months prior to completing the questionnaire. Questions covered methods of communication of the result, emotional reactions, support received (from the physician and entourage), and information sources, using pre-specified check box options and rating scales. Data were analyzed by country.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Pap test results were mostly communicated by phone to Spanish women (76%), while physician letters were common in France (59%) and Portugal (36%). Frequent reactions were anxiety, panic and stress, which were less common in Spanish women than their French and Portuguese counterparts. After discussing with their physician, half of the participants were worried, despite rating highly the psychological support received. Over 90% of women in each country discussed their results with family or friends. Partners provided a high level of support. Overall, the abnormal diagnosis and consequences had a low to medium impact on daily, professional and family life and their relationships with their partner. Impact was higher in Spanish women than the French or Portuguese. Information on the diagnosis and its treatment was rated average, and nearly 80% of participants wanted more information, notably French women. Preferred sources were the physician and the Internet.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Women expressed a strong wish for more information about cervical cancer and other HPV-related diseases, and that their physician play a major role in its provision and in support. There was a heavy reliance on the close entourage and the Internet for information, highlighting the need for dissemination of accurate material. Differences between countries suggest information management strategies may need to be tailored to different geographical regions.</p

Radar Observations and the Shape of Near-Earth Asteroid 2008 EV5

We observed the near-Earth asteroid 2008 EV5 with the Arecibo and Goldstone planetary radars and the Very Long Baseline Array during December 2008. EV5 rotates retrograde and its overall shape is a 400 /pm 50 m oblate spheroid. The most prominent surface feature is a ridge parallel to the asteroid's equator that is broken by a concavity 150 m in diameter. Otherwise the asteroid's surface is notably smooth on decameter scales. EV5's radar and optical albedos are consistent with either rocky or stony-iron composition. The equatorial ridge is similar to structure seen on the rubble-pile near-Earth asteroid (66391) 1999 KW4 and is consistent with YORP spin-up reconfiguring the asteroid in the past. We interpret the concavity as an impact crater. Shaking during the impact and later regolith redistribution may have erased smaller features, explaining the general lack of decameter-scale surface structure.Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication in Icarus: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6WGF-5207B2F-4/2/d87cd2ae4da00c2b277e2dc79a532c4

Resilience, resistance, infrapolitics and enmeshment

A great deal has been written in the International Relations literature about the role of resilience in our social world. One of the central debates in the scholarship concerns the relationship between resilience and resistance, which several scholars consider to be one of mutual exclusivity. For many theorists, an individual or a society can either be resilient or resistant, but not both. In this article, we argue that this understanding of the resilience–resistance connection suffers from three interrelated problems: it treats resilience and resistance as binary concepts rather than processes; it presents a simplistic conception of resilient subjects as apolitical subjects; and it eschews the ‘transformability’ aspect of resilience. In a bid to resolve these issues, the article advocates for the usefulness of a relational approach to the processes of resilience and resistance, and suggests an approach that understands resilience and resistance as engaged in mutual assistance rather than mutual exclusion. The case of the Palestinian national liberation movement illustrates our set of arguments